Golden Hills
by 5E6014
Summary: A backwater country known only as Wheat, terrorized by strange creatures. Superstitious citizens begin to panic, urging the Warlord to do something. So, he does the best thing he can think of. He hires Team Kakashi of the Hidden Leaf Village.


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the locations except for Wheat Country and all characters followed by *.

Note: This story is a creation of my own mind with an altered timeline based upon the Shippuuden manga. If you have not yet read the Shippuuden series you will become lost.

**Chapter 1: Enter Team Kakashi**

The mid-day sun shone down clearly on Konoha. Naruto stood on the head of the Fourth Hokage upon the Hokage Monument. The gentle breeze blew his unzipped jacket behind him revealing his black t-shirt. His hands were stuck in his pockets as he lazely smiled down at his village. 'Who would think,' thought Naruto, 'that such a thriving and happy village was destroyed so many times and was once turned into a crater?' He chuckled as he looked up at the sky.

"Naruto!" yelled a girl running up behind him. Naruto turned to see a young lady with short pink hair and a huge grin. Her red sleeveless shirt hugged onto her loosely. Her tan battle skirt that she always wore was flapping a bit in the wind. Her well toned body and beautiful looks completely negated the fact that she was extremely dangerous.

"Sakura!" yelled Naruto as he ran to her and caught her in a hug. They held each other for several moments before realeasing each other and staring into each other's eyes. "You look beautiful today," Naruto gently said to her.

"Really? I feel horrible though." She let go and stretched her arms above her head. "That mission was a hard one." She relaxed and smiled. "Hey, let's go get ramen, my treat."

Naruto grinned and gave her a quizzical look. "Going to admit yet that you love ramen too now?" He chuckled as she hit his arm mockingly.

"Never." Although she would never admit it, part of Naruto had rubbed off on her. And she new that some of her personality rubbed off on Naruto too. They had each acquired some of the other's "charming" traits. "Come on, let's go."

They walked along and as they passed a large rock Naruto put on his red Sage Jacket and picked up his large Frog Scroll.

* * *

A young man with strangely pale white skin sat at a park bench next to a pond. Even his black pants and t-shirt seemed to relax in the warm summer air. His short black hair dangled from his head as he bent over a small sketch book and his hand drew line after line. He wasn't sure what it was he was making, all he knew was that it was how he felt. And at this time he felt happy. He looked up at the sky for a moment, then with new inspiration began drawing new lines.

"Hey, Sai!" said an older man walking by. He wore black pants and a black long sleeved shirt. His green tactical vest was zipped up and had both holsters and supply pouches on. His metal mask shone dully. He stopped for a quick chat. "Fancy finding you here. Usually you're on the other side of the park."

"Oh! Hello, Captain Yamato! And yes, I am in an unusual place today, but I was curious as what this side looked like, so I came here today." He gave a small smile as he said this. He closed his sketchbook and put his pencil in his pocket as he stood up. "Don't mind if I join you for your walk today?"

Yamato chuckled. "Well actually I was going to the other side to find you! You just saved me a lot of walking is all! Now along we go, we have to find Naruto and Sakura next."

Sai nodded his head, "a mission then. Well, let's go the the Ramen stand and get a bite to eat with them."

"Agreed, time for lunch and a pre-briefing."

* * *

Naruto and Sakura walked into the ramen stand and sat at their usual seats. "Hey, Old Man! One pork and a vegetable ramen please!" stated Naruto grinning.

"Ah! Naruto, Sakura! How are my loyal customers?" said an old man as he stood up from his stool and got to work.

Sakura looked around and asked, "where's Ayame today mister Teuchi?" She had been looking forward to a little girl talk, but if she didn't get to she'd survive.

As Teuchi began to cook the noodles he replied, "Ayame is home sick today. She has a really bad stomach ache because of a bad batch of ingredients she used for a new recipe she was trying. Sadly they looked just fine but we found out that the person we'd bought them from wasn't the best with keeping products clean." He sighed from a bit of sadness for not hearing the usual voice of his daughter.

"I'm sorry that happened," said Sakura. "I hope she gets better soon."

"Yeah," stated Naruto, "me too!'

Teuchi smiled and served them saying, "thank you. I'll be sure to tell her what you two said." He then turned as he saw two more familiar faces enter the stand. "Usual for both of you today?"

Naruto and Sakura turned to see Yamato and Sai enter and say, "yes," at the same time. They both knew what was coming and decided to go ahead and start eating so as to avoid too much conversation. Unfortuneately, it didn't work out so well.

Immediatley upon sitting down Yamato began with the all dreaded pre-briefing which usually took up the whole hour when it could be done in fifteen minutes. "Well, you probably know why I'm here so I'll go ahead and get started."

* * *

Team Kakashi sat at the Ichiraku ramen stand after eating their fill and listening to Yamato drone on and on about their next mission. Naruto was first to break the silence. "Okay, so, we're going to a small country out of the way called Wheat because of strange happenings which we're hired to investigate. But there's one thing I don't get. Sakura was just on a mission, so why can't she stay behind and rest?"

Yamato sighed, "because the Warlord asked specifically for the entire Team Kakashi. If one of us doesn't show up that could cause pain in the political area."

"Then why doesn't someone else go as Sakura?" Sakura wasn't going to disagree with this idea.

"Because," said Yamato, "we're so well renowned that even if no one's ever seen us they'll still know what we look like. He'll be able to tell that the fake Sakura is an imposter simply from the fact that he knows all of our descriptions."

Sakura dropped her head knowing Naruto wouldn't win this battle. She put her hand on his shoulder and spoke up. "We have to travel for a few days right? I can rest a bit during that time so I'm not entirely exhausted." She looked up hoping that Naruto would agree. Apparently he did due to the look on his face. No one had to say a thing, they all understood.

They stood up and began towards the the Hokage's tower. Naruto worrying about Sakura, Sakura hoping Naruto would take her watch times during the nights and Yamato and Sai thinking about whatever they wanted to.

* * *

Tsunade sat....lay at her table with a bottle of sake in one hand and a stamp in the other. She was asleep from her night of paper work and was only waking up when needed. A knock at the door and Shizune gently opening it and saying, "Tusnade-sama, time to wake up," got the fifth Hokage ready. She sat up, put the stamp on the corner of her desk, took a sip of sake and put it away in her "hidden" location. Namely that of behind the stack of scrolls where no one in front of her could see it.

"Come in," she said in her Hokage tone of voice. Team Kakashi stepped in and lined up, ready for their simplified briefing which they'd already heard in a twisted and annoying way. They all said, "Team Kakashi, reporting for duty!"

"Good," stated Tsunade, "now, knowing Yamato you already heard it all. So instead I'll cut to the chase. You're to travel to Wheat, irradicate these strange creatures and return. These," Tsunade handed them each an envelope as she continued, "are passports you will use to get in safely. And these," she again paused to hand them small packets of paper, "contain all the information you need. I expect you to be ready by morning and gone by mid-day." She gave them the look asking for questions and comments. There were none.

"That is all, dismissed!" the fifth commanded.

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" Team Kakashi all replied in unison. They then filed out and went to their respective homes to prepare for the mission.

"Shizune!" Tsunade yelled. Shizune responded by running in and bowing.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" She had a good guess of what was coming next.

"No one is to come in unless it is urgent or I have summoned them, understood?" then, without confirmation that her command was heard, she took another sip of sake and lay back down.

* * *

**Next Chapter:** **Setting Off**

Thank you for reading. Please be sure to review with your thoughts and comments.

~5E6014


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